Apparatus for regulating the depth of moored floating bodies.



Nd. 881,136. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908.

K. O. LEON.

APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE DEPTH OF MQORED FLOATING EDDIE-S1ALPPLIOATIOH FILED NOV. 15, 1906.

a SHEETS-SHEET 1.

hymn-3s PATEMED MAR. 10 1908.

0, LEON. -EEFARATKIS FOR BEGULATING THE DEPTH 01F M00321) FLOATINGBODIES. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16. 1906.

3 SHEETS -SHEET 2.

No. 881,186. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908. K. 0. LEON.

APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE DEPTH 0P MOORED FLOATING BODIES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16. 1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

M! MW@Q yiww KARL OSKAR LEON, OF STOGKHOLM, SWEDEN.

APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE DEPTH OF IVIOORED FLOATING BODES.

Application filed November 16, 1906.

To all 11:71am, 'i-t may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL Osman LEON, a subject of the King of Sweden,and resident of 3 Riddaregatan, Stockholm, Sweden, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Apparatus for Regulating the Depth of MooredFloating Bodies, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the drawing acompanying and forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to apparatus for regulating the position or depthof the immersion of submarine mines, parts of mines, buoys and othermoored floating bodies.

The invention is especially applicable in submarine mines moored inplaces where the tide makes itself strongly felt. it is applicableeither when the whole mine is to be raised and lowered or when the. mainbody of the mine, i. the part of'the mine containing the explosivecharge or detonator, is moored at a constant distance from the bottom ofthe sea and is connected with a separate contact buoy or circuitclosingapparatus adapted to be raised and lowered.

Theinventon can also be utilized for automatically regulating theposition or depth of the immersion of buoys, sea-marks, and the like,or, generally, for regulating the level of any floating bodiesadjustably attached to the bottom or to'n'ioored bodies.

The chief objectof the invention is to make it possible to maintain themine, or other body, ata substantially constant position or depthbeneath the water surface, indepemlentl} of the rising and lowering ofthe latter due to the tide or other influences.

In carrying out the invention an electromotor is used, said clcctromotorbeing caused to wind up or unwind, in any known manner, a rope orsimilar connection by which the floating body is fastened. Theelectromotor can be placed either in the floating body or in astationary part outside the lat tcr, for instance in the anchor. inmines having outside themine proper or main body 01 the mine a floatingcontact buoy inclosing the shock apparatus for closing the circuit ofthe firing battery, the electromotor can suitably be placed within thecasing of the main body of the mine or within the contact buoy.

The invention consists, chiefly, in. providing a specialelcctric-circuit-ciosing-device automatically"operated by the waterpressure in such a way that, when the water Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented March 10, 1908.

Seria1 No. 343,685.

pressure is increased or decreased beyond certain limits, the motorcircuit is closed for rotating the mot-or in one or the other direction.The circuit connections of the motor are such that the motor is startedfor Wind-:

ing up the rope and lowering the floatingbodv at a certain lowerpressure and is started for unwinding the rope and allow ing thefloating bod to ascend at a certain higher pressure.

in the drawings, 1 have illustrated, by Way of example, one form of asubmarine mine arranged according to this invention.

The mine illustrated in the drawings is of the kind having a so-calledcontact buoy, i. e. of the kind where the part of the mine containingthe detonator is moored at such a distance from the bottom as to securea sufiicient bulk of W ater above the mine even in low water, whereasthe shock apparatus for closing the mine-exploding circuit is in closedwithin a separate casing forming the contact buoy.

' The invention is, however, as before stated,

also applicable to submarine mines in which the apparatus for closing;the, mine-exploding circuit is inc-losed Within the mine proper. Figure1 is a central vertical section of part of the main body; of the mine.Fig. 2 is a central vertical section of the contact buoy containing theshock apparatus for closing the mindexploding circuit. is a centralvertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the apparatus, contained inthe contact buoy, for closing the depth-regulating circuit. Fig. i is acentral vertical section of a modified form of the apparatus for 010sing the depth-regulating circuit. diagram of apparatus and circuitsbelonging to the system.

Referring to the drawings, the moored part a of the mine (Fig. 1)incloses an electric motor I) supplied with current from any suitablesource of electricity, such as a bat tery cilrig. 5) placed on shore.Connected with the motor shalt 1 by any suitable gearing is a drum (Iwhich is rotated in. one or the other direction, according to thedirection of rotation of the motor, and thereby causes the contact buovf(Fig. 2) to be raised or lowered. is a depth-regulating instrument g(Fig. 3) serving-to close the motor circuits in such a manner as tocause the motor to rotate in one or the other direct-ion. Wound on theFig. 5 is a Fig. 3

Placed within the Contact buoy,

drum d is a Wire rope It or similar flexible connection in which thecontact buoy f is attached. The buoy], like the main bodya of the mine,has acertain floating-1')ower so as to constantly keep the part of therope h unwound from the drum stretched, the posi-- -tion or depth of theimmersion of the buoy f in the water being thus dependent upon thelength of the unwound part of the rope h, The motor b, suitablyconstructed as a continuous current motor with a low speed of-rotation,is shown placed beneath the drum. The gearing from the motor to the drumshaft consists, in the form of embodiment illustrated, of an endlessscrew 2 formed on the motor shaft 1 and engaging a screw wheel 3attached to a vertical shaft 4 car'- 'rying at its upper end, a frictiondisk 5 engaging a second friction disk 6 attached to the lower end of ashaft 7 journaled coaxially with the shaft 4, said upper shaft 7 beingprovided; at its upper end,- with an endless screw 8 engaging ascrew-wheel 9.011 the drum shaft 10; The friction disks 5, 6

together form a friction brake serving to prevent the motor from beingoverloaded.

The shaft 7 I asses throu 'h a water-ti ht- P a s partltion t in themain body of the mine and is surrounded, where it passes the said parti--.tion, by a water-tight stufiing-box 11' so that 'water is preventedfrom penetrating from the outer, water-filled room inclosing the druminto .thecompartment contalmng the motor and the apparatus to beprotected from water. Situated between the stuflingbox 11 and thefriction disk'fi is a strong i with a screw-thread engaging a nutforming part of a rope guide whose up er, horizon-. tal part, moving innotches in t e standards 13, is provided with an eye 14 through which ithe rope it passes. I During the turning of the drum for winding up therope, the rope guide "moves along the drum to secure an even winding.

' The depth-regulating instrument 9 placed in the buoy f can, if,desired, be constructed somewhat similar to an aneroid barometer. In theconstructional form illustrated in Fig.

I 3-it consists oriaibox w (Figs. 2 and 3) the bottom 1 (j offivhich isprovided. with concentric corrugations. Attachedcto the middle ofthefbottom .16 is a rack 17 catching into a pinion 1S, and attached. -tothe said pinion, ut insulated therefrom, are two contact springs 19, 20cooperating with'threeinsulated. contact-pieces 21-, 22, These contactsare suitably carried by a part adapted to be moved parallel to the axisof the box the contact buoy.

Fig. 5..

sei,13e

der normal. Conditions, the contact springs" take up the middlepositions shown 1n the drawing, in which they are out of contact withthe contact pieces. \Vhen, on the other hand, on account of. the raisingor lowering of the water level, the water pressure exerted on the bottom16 of the box l5 is suiliciently increased or decreased, the spring' 19makes contact with one orjthe other of the contact pieces 21, 22 at thesame time as the spring 20 makes contact with. one orthe other of thecontact pieces 22, 23.

In the constructional form of the depthregulating instrument illustratedin Fig. 4, the box and the parts inclosed therein are substituted by aswitch box 24 of different construction to the above described, attachedto the lower part of the contact buoy. This switch-box is shown arrangedI for expeditious mounting, which is performed in. such a manner thatthe flange 25 at the outer side of the box is screwed on to acorresponding .flange or ring 26 atthe shell of For closing the circuitsfor rotating the motor in one or the other direction and thereby causingthe desired functions to be performed, the lower part of the boxcontains bellows 27 which are widened, when the water pressureincreases,

and thereby cause a rod 28 connected with the bellows to move upwardly,whereas, when the water pressure decreases, a spring 29 pulls the roddownward, thereby compressing the bellows. The rod 28 is connected by alink30 to a contact carrier-31 pivoted at 32 in a support 34-screwedinto a plate 33. The electric cable (not shown) is introduced into thecontact room 36 through a stufling box 35. At' tached to the contactcarrier 31 are the contact springs 19, 20, which, in the manner abovedescribed, enter between the insula-ted contact pieces 21, 22, 23.Carried-by the contact springs 19, 20 is 'an armature 37, and placedbeneath the said armatureis an electro-magnet '38,- which, when suppliedwith current, attracts the armature against the action of the elasticityof t-he'contact springs so as to cause the contact spring 19 to makecontact'with the contact piece 21' and the'contact spring 20' to makecontact with the contact piece 22, by which the motor is started forpulling down the contact buoy; .The currentthrough the else tro-magnet38- is regulated from shorev as hereinafter described. 1

'- The circuits are shown in the diagram,

Placed at the mine station A, indiare a battery c 'orother suitablesource of cated in the drawing by a dotted rectangle,

electricity and switches m, n for closing the dilferent circuits',.- Theswitch m is shown constructed as a'coinmon double-pole circuitbreakerhavingtwo arms 40, 4 1- connected by .a link 39 of insulating material,each of said arms normally bearing on a contact piece 42, 43respectively. The switch nis' a, common circuit-closer normally open.but-- a adapted to bebrought on to aground contact-44. The arm 40 isconnected to the one current source.

(positive) pole of the current source 0, while 46is, further, aconductor 47 passing down to a contact 48 situatedat the ,motor I; inthemine properc. The field magnet windings 49,50 of the motor areconnected byconductors 51, 52 to the contact arms 19, 20. Passing fromthe contact piece 43 at the mine station A is a conductor 53 leading tothe contact piece 22 in .the contact buoy f.

The brushes at the armature 54 are shown connected by conductors 55, 56the 0 e to 3.0

-conductor 53 from the contact piece-43 and the other'56 to a contactpiece 57 at the side of the. contact piece 48. Inserted in the conductor51 is an electro-magnet 58, which,

when supplied with current, attracts an armature 59 and causes thelatter to form a bridge between the contact pieces 48 and 57.

i The circuit through the armature 54 is thus closed through thearmature 59, only when the electro-magnet 58 is supplied withcurrent;which is-the case only when the automatic circuit'closing. device-gis inits one'or other working position.

The electro-magnet 38 is shown inserted in an earth conductor" 60divided from the conductor 47. r

When the switches .m, a take up the positions shown in Fig. 5, a currentflows from the battery 0 through the field magnets in' one or the otherdirection, according asthe automatic switch is thrown, by the variationsin the water pressure, in its one or other working position. The currentthrough the armaturealw-ays flows in one and the same direction but onlywhen the automatic switch takes up its one orother' working position,due to the fact that the electromagnet 58, when being deprived ofcurrent, releases its armature 59, which then breaks the armaturecircuit. The motor I) will thus run in one or the other directionaccording as the automatic switch takes up its one or other workingposition. On account thereof, the rope h is wound up or unwound,respectively, until the contact buoy-finds in which the automatic switchtakes up an idle position. v

The switch 11, and the conductor 60 including the elect'ro-magnet 38 areemployed especially in submarine mines laid down in navigable chann ISin orderto make it, pos-' sible to make th contact buoy descend foradmitting neutral vessels to pass and then again cause'the contact buoyto rise so as to prevent hostile vessel'sfrom passing. When the switch nis closed, acurrent flows from the battery c throu hthe 'electro-magnet'38 andearth backto t e battery, whereby the electro-magnet 38 attractsits'armature 37 and throws the automatic switch to the right (Fig. '5)so thatthe motor is started for Winding down thecontact buoy. The motorthen rotates inythe winding down direction, until the contact buoy hasdescended to a sufficient depth to allow the vessels to pass. In orderto make. the buoy ascend into its upper position, the switchn is againopened, and

the buoy will then be self-regulating, as before, so that the contactarms 19, 20 are thrown on to their opposite contacts and the motor iscaused to rotate in'the opposite dii'ection.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to theparticular constructions and circuits hereinbefore-described buti'can bevaried in several ways without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention.

Obviously, instead of reversing the field-cur rent, the armature currentcan be reversed, while the field current is caused to flow in oneand-the same direction; Further, instead of directly closing the fieldcircuit, or the armature circuit respectively, by the automatic switch,a serv'ormotor might be employed, said servo-motor serving to start orstop the Winding motor, eventually by cutting out or insertingresistances inthe motor circuit.

Having now describedmy invention what T claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1.' Thecombination of a substantially stationary body, a floating body,a flexible/connection between thetwo bodies, an electric motor placed inoneof the said bodies, a-

source of electricity for supplying current to the said electric motor,electric connections between the source of electricity and the motor, aswitch arranged in such a manner as to cause the motor to run in one orthe other d1- rection, according as the switch is thrown .into one orthe other of its working positions,

a pressure-operated device carried by the floating body and connectedwith the switch in such a manner .asto cause the latter to move towardthe one or the other of'its working positions, according as the waterpressure increases or decreases, andmeans, driven by themotor,-,for'w1nd1ng up or un itself at the depth beneath the watersurface winding the flexible connection between the

